Hey everyone! Has anybody heard anything about the Stratford Business School? It says that it offers courses validated by edexcel, anybody knows if this means something or not? I mean, does it worth to try? Thank you all!

What a funny little business: http://www.stratfordbusinessschool.co.uk/ They seem to sell study materials for the Edexcel courses. These are totally harmless courses, and there are several further education colleges and tutorial business that will offer candidates support for them. I don't think that they will be useful for candidates looking for MBA type roles, and the credits can't be transferred to respected MBAs. They are the classic further education courses that a diligent supervisory manager without a degree will take.

If you had $2,000 or less and could not get to a college near you then I guess it's one of the new choices open to you, then I'd recommend an FE college (https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Level+7+Diploma+in+Strategic+Management+and+Leadership&aq=f&oq=Level+7+Diploma+in+Strategic+Management+and+Leadership&aqs=chrome.0.57j0l3j62l2.392j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q=%22Level+7+Diploma+in+Strategic+Management+and+Leadership%22+online+site:ac.uk&hl=en&ei=t-RdUbq-KMLJ0QWiyICQBw&start=0&sa=N&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=c2398d0a0171ceea&biw=1415&bih=976). I think they will give you more consistent support.

PS Bangor University (http://www.bangor.ac.uk/management_centre/CourseSchedule.php.en) seems to be the only university delivering even the cut-down version of it, and that's on campus. Quite a nice course though, since Bangor makes the optional finance course one of its compulsory options.

If you look more closely you will see that Stratford Business School's Level 7 Extended Diploma in Strategic Management & Leadership is accepted by several UK Universities. It will gain direct entry into the final stage of MBA as it has a Masters Credit Point value of 120.

I don't think any accredited MBAs will accept it. It does not have a compulsory core like the first half on an MBA, so one can skip over several business functions completely and still get the EdExcel qualification. An MBA that's prepared to admit people to the final stages without, for example, having studied finance, just can't be that great.

You are right about the Finance component - which is why the Stratford Business School Level 7 Edexcel course has a compulsory Finance module. Strategic Planning, Marketing and Change Management are also mandatory. It is this solid core of business functions that has enabled Stratford Business School to establish firm links to the final stage of UK University MBA programmes.

Even so, I doubt that any of those are accredited (http://www.find-mba.com/accreditations). Your preferred partner is Northampton University, which is in the bottom third UK business schools (http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings?s=Business+%26+Management+Studies).